Lucas Stal-Madison Makes Us Believe Anything is Possible

Known for bringing his experimental antics to Sweden’s ski crew The Bunch, Lucas Stal-Madison, 25, came onto the scene after winning SuperUnknown, Level 1’s annual video contest, in 2012. He continues to infuse his inimitable style throughout the ski world.

This interview is the extension of the "Pro Deal" quiz which ran in the November issue of POWDER (46.3).

Skiing without poles has a free surf vibe to it. We also use a lot hand drags and hand plants. I really like to ski really deep pow with no poles. It's a very cool feeling. Go out and try it if you can.

Sweden doesn't have big mountains. Until I was 18, I had never skied powder.

I only skied a week a year until I was 13. It's hard to remember what clicked, but I remember telling my dad I wanted to get good at skiing. I had this moment in the mountains and I just wanted to do it more.

I joined the ski school at this super shitty small hill in Stockholm and they told me to join the race team. I wasn't a creative person when I was small, but racing was a little too strict.

There was this dude on the race team doing 720s and backflips. I said, 'Let me get in on that.' Then it was me and my hommie hitting rails around where I lived. I skied handrails as much as on the hill. That's what was available, and you don't need to buy a ski pass.

I won The North Face Ski Challenge final in Verbier when I was 17. That helped a lot. The year after that, I won SuperUnknown and it's been the full film lifestyle since then.

Long story short, this was what I wanted to do. I spent hours and hours on the trampoline, put all my time and effort in it, and to be so dedicated has paid off.

I still have a lot of goals I want to accomplish in skiing. I will ski for the rest of my life. But at one point I will do a full-time job within sustainability.

PHOTO: Alric Ljunghager

I'm 95 percent vegetarian. I will eat good meat if someone's been hunting, but I believe it's better for the body and better for the environment. It's been pretty fun to stop eating meat and to see how many cool veggies there are.

I was making eggs and bacon for breakfast and I had just put butter in the pan when I went to answer a call on Skype. I flipped over the pan on and it was one of the worst pains I've ever had. I had third-degree burns and was out for a month and a half because of bacon.

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It's definitely warmer and less snow nowadays. I've watched for 10 years now seeing it happen in front of my eyes.

I've been on the environmental train for quite a long time. After I had seen Al Gore's movie, I thought about it for a long time. I observed and read about the environment a lot and sustainability. I know it's the future. I want to work with that after I'm done skiing.

This year, I'm going full send into the backcountry. I'm not going on any urban trips. I see a lot of potential for stuff that hasn't been done. That's my goal; more creativity in the backcountry. Where Nimbus ended, I want to do that in the next step.